Compassion, Humility, Vrindavan Dham
2020
kevala-jīva-kāruṇyaṁ khalu vighnāya syāt, bharatavat |
Indiscriminate compassion for all living beings will lead to ruin, like it did with King Bharata.
If one thinks one can do anything beneficial to others, even though on the material platform it is in the realm of piety, ultimately one gets little benefit and a lot of trouble. The point is that direct service to Radha and Krishna is the watering of the root by which benefit is done to all. At least, that is the starting point. If you don't understand this, then what good will you do for anyone, except in a temporary and sentimental way?
VMA 2.14
bhrātar bhogāḥ subhuktāḥ ka iha na bhavatā nāpi saṁsāra-madhye
vidyā-dānādhvarādyaiḥ kati kati jagati khyāti-pūjādy-alabdhāḥ |
adyāhāre'pi yādṛcchika uru-guṇavān apy aho saṁvṛtātmā
śrīmad-vṛndāvane'smin satatam aṭa sakhe sarvato mukta-saṅgaḥ ||
O brother! What enjoyments have you not
already fully experienced here in this world?
And what fame and adoration have you not had
in the midst of this repeated birth and death
through your learning, charity and sacrifice?
My friend! From today on,
in matters of eating, accept whatever comes unsought;
even if you have all good qualities, keep yourself hidden
and wander constantly, completely free from all attachments,
in this beautiful forest of Vrindavan.
2016 You can see I was doing a lot of research and writing for Vrindavan Today in 2016. Unfortunately a lot of these articles were not posted to the blog and the VT archives have been lost.
Raasacharya Swami Hargovinda left his body day before yesterday. Here is a picture of him as a Rasalila swaroop in the 1940's. He is Krishna here.
2016
There are several stories here. when I did a bit of reading on Prabhudatt Brahmachari, his name came up in connection with the latter's kirtans in Jhusi, Allahabad. You will have to read the story on Prabhudatta to find out about that.
Anyway, I had previously read about Hari Baba from Akhandananda Saraswati's book, Paawan Prasang. In that book, he tells the story of how Hari Baba motivated the villagers on the banks of the Ganga to build, by their own efforts alone, without government participation, an embankment wall 34 miles long. The whole task was done with the chanting of the Holy Name. Even today, one can go to his ashram in Anupshahr (60 km north of Aligarh, or 120 km north of Mathura) where the same villagers to this day have akhanda kirtan, representatives of each village that participated in the building of the dyke taking turns maintaining that tradition in his honor.
According to G Kamesh, the temple has the verse written over the altar:
harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha
Prabhudatt Brahmachari was writing his books on Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at around this same time. Hari Baba was also a great admirer of Mahaprabhu and regularly gave lectures from the Charitamrita and would celebrate the birthday of Mahaprabhu for the entire month of Phalgun. It was on his request that Swami Premananda first began to write the lilas of Mahaprabhu to be performed by his Raas group. This was in 1940.
Hari Baba then promoted these performances of Gaur Lila in towns and villages wherever he had a following. They were also done in Anandamayi Ma's ashram. Hargovind then continued and developed this tradition. By this method, Mahaprabhu's lila was introduced to people in North India, UP and Punjab, etc. They also performed in Mumbai, Orissa, Kolkata, Delhi, etc., etc.
It appears to have been an effective preaching mechanism.
2016 Another lost link. These might be found on the Wayback machine, internet archives.
The story of Ranbari Siddha Krishna Das, who left Braj to travel the length and breadth of India despite Radharani's dream warning, is very famous in the Gaudiya Vaishnava community in Braj. We stopped in after our visit to Umrao.
2014
The romantic illusion is to think that prema, the ultimate goal of life, is easy. Even when we say that Mahaprabhu gave it freely, it only means that he gave the awareness that this is the goal of life along with a "free sample" taste.
But love always means growth, and growth, by definition, means facing and overcoming obstacles. And, in fact, for love to exist, even in the spiritual world, means that there must be some obstacle or separation arising periodically, dialectically.
The religious attitude to life demands humility because without humility, the path of grace is blocked. The absence of humility is the essence of aparādha. Humility means self-examination. Accepting the truth of one's incapacity to love adequately, in whatever way that Love makes its demands of us, to make the sacrifices that Love requires of us.
The absence of humility is always manifest in blaming the other. Blaming the other is the same as blaming God. It is a spiritual non starter.
This is the relation between humility and prema. Without it, prema is impossible.
dainyaṁ tu paramaṁ premṇaḥ paripākena janyate |
tāsāṁ gokula-nārīṇām iva kṛṣṇa-viyogataḥ ||224||
paripākena dainyasya premājasraṁ vitanyate |
parasparaṁ tayor itthaṁ kārya-kāraṇatekṣyate ||225||
bhrātaḥ premṇaḥ svarūpaṁ yat tad dhi jānanti tad-vidaḥ |
yasya cittārdratā-jātaṁ bāhyaṁ kampādi-lakṣaṇam ||226||
Humility arises from the complete maturation of prema, as was demonstrated by the women of Gokula in separation from Krishna. When humility reaches its complete maturation, then prema flows copiously in all directions. It is seen that there is thus a mutual relationship of cause and effect between Love and Humility. My brother ! Those who know the truth of Prema know this to be its essential nature. Internally one's heart melts and externally that is expressed by trembling, etc. (Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛtam 2.5.224-225)
See Humility and Prema
2014
I consistently think of myself as better than I am. The truth is painful. The devotee is humble because he sees the truth of his own reality. The world consistently teaches you that you need a false sense of self in order to survive and succeed.
Someone: You are much better than you are
That is also true. Depends which way you look at it. I am talking about the outer layer, the false sense of self that we try to justify and display to the world in the interest of an ephemeral idea of survival and success. Without proper humility, that "better" self cannot manifest.
2014
"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it, because what the world needs is more people who have come alive." - Howard Thurman
May the Holy Name give you life!
2009
Modern society has succeeded in separating them so that religion, qua entertainment, has become moot.
The myths and stories of religious traditions are distinct in that they require a ritual response related to the Divine.
On another level, of course, all activities are and can be related to God and are therefore, in some respect, sādhanas. Rupa Goswami's rasa theory is about sorting out the two.
Previous students of kāvya recognized that one needs to be in the sattva-guṇa. No question that they thought it was a sādhana and that there was a difference in the experience of rasa according to saṁskāra. And they recognized that it was akin to spiritual experience also- brahma-sahodara. These parallels are very important in our sampradāya. That is why I brought it up.
Indiscriminate compassion for all living beings will lead to ruin, like it did with King Bharata.
If one thinks one can do anything beneficial to others, even though on the material platform it is in the realm of piety, ultimately one gets little benefit and a lot of trouble. The point is that direct service to Radha and Krishna is the watering of the root by which benefit is done to all. At least, that is the starting point. If you don't understand this, then what good will you do for anyone, except in a temporary and sentimental way?
VMA 2.14
bhrātar bhogāḥ subhuktāḥ ka iha na bhavatā nāpi saṁsāra-madhye
vidyā-dānādhvarādyaiḥ kati kati jagati khyāti-pūjādy-alabdhāḥ |
adyāhāre'pi yādṛcchika uru-guṇavān apy aho saṁvṛtātmā
śrīmad-vṛndāvane'smin satatam aṭa sakhe sarvato mukta-saṅgaḥ ||
O brother! What enjoyments have you not
already fully experienced here in this world?
And what fame and adoration have you not had
in the midst of this repeated birth and death
through your learning, charity and sacrifice?
My friend! From today on,
in matters of eating, accept whatever comes unsought;
even if you have all good qualities, keep yourself hidden
and wander constantly, completely free from all attachments,
in this beautiful forest of Vrindavan.
2016 You can see I was doing a lot of research and writing for Vrindavan Today in 2016. Unfortunately a lot of these articles were not posted to the blog and the VT archives have been lost.
2016
This is Hari Baba, a famous saint from the first part of last century. I just came across his name unexpectedly while researching Hargovinda Swami's life.
There are several stories here. when I did a bit of reading on Prabhudatt Brahmachari, his name came up in connection with the latter's kirtans in Jhusi, Allahabad. You will have to read the story on Prabhudatta to find out about that.
Anyway, I had previously read about Hari Baba from Akhandananda Saraswati's book, Paawan Prasang. In that book, he tells the story of how Hari Baba motivated the villagers on the banks of the Ganga to build, by their own efforts alone, without government participation, an embankment wall 34 miles long. The whole task was done with the chanting of the Holy Name. Even today, one can go to his ashram in Anupshahr (60 km north of Aligarh, or 120 km north of Mathura) where the same villagers to this day have akhanda kirtan, representatives of each village that participated in the building of the dyke taking turns maintaining that tradition in his honor.
According to G Kamesh, the temple has the verse written over the altar:
harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha
Plenty of great stuff about Hari Baba on that blog. Check it out. This is all happening in the early 1920s. He became known as "Maharaj Bandh ke Hari Baba" (the "maharaj of the dyke"). And that is how he is named in this book that I was reading to find out more about Hargovinda.
Prabhudatt Brahmachari was writing his books on Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at around this same time. Hari Baba was also a great admirer of Mahaprabhu and regularly gave lectures from the Charitamrita and would celebrate the birthday of Mahaprabhu for the entire month of Phalgun. It was on his request that Swami Premananda first began to write the lilas of Mahaprabhu to be performed by his Raas group. This was in 1940.
Hari Baba then promoted these performances of Gaur Lila in towns and villages wherever he had a following. They were also done in Anandamayi Ma's ashram. Hargovind then continued and developed this tradition. By this method, Mahaprabhu's lila was introduced to people in North India, UP and Punjab, etc. They also performed in Mumbai, Orissa, Kolkata, Delhi, etc., etc.
It appears to have been an effective preaching mechanism.
2016 Another lost link. These might be found on the Wayback machine, internet archives.
The story of Ranbari Siddha Krishna Das, who left Braj to travel the length and breadth of India despite Radharani's dream warning, is very famous in the Gaudiya Vaishnava community in Braj. We stopped in after our visit to Umrao.
2014
The romantic illusion is to think that prema, the ultimate goal of life, is easy. Even when we say that Mahaprabhu gave it freely, it only means that he gave the awareness that this is the goal of life along with a "free sample" taste.
But love always means growth, and growth, by definition, means facing and overcoming obstacles. And, in fact, for love to exist, even in the spiritual world, means that there must be some obstacle or separation arising periodically, dialectically.
The religious attitude to life demands humility because without humility, the path of grace is blocked. The absence of humility is the essence of aparādha. Humility means self-examination. Accepting the truth of one's incapacity to love adequately, in whatever way that Love makes its demands of us, to make the sacrifices that Love requires of us.
The absence of humility is always manifest in blaming the other. Blaming the other is the same as blaming God. It is a spiritual non starter.
This is the relation between humility and prema. Without it, prema is impossible.
dainyaṁ tu paramaṁ premṇaḥ paripākena janyate |
tāsāṁ gokula-nārīṇām iva kṛṣṇa-viyogataḥ ||224||
paripākena dainyasya premājasraṁ vitanyate |
parasparaṁ tayor itthaṁ kārya-kāraṇatekṣyate ||225||
bhrātaḥ premṇaḥ svarūpaṁ yat tad dhi jānanti tad-vidaḥ |
yasya cittārdratā-jātaṁ bāhyaṁ kampādi-lakṣaṇam ||226||
Humility arises from the complete maturation of prema, as was demonstrated by the women of Gokula in separation from Krishna. When humility reaches its complete maturation, then prema flows copiously in all directions. It is seen that there is thus a mutual relationship of cause and effect between Love and Humility. My brother ! Those who know the truth of Prema know this to be its essential nature. Internally one's heart melts and externally that is expressed by trembling, etc. (Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛtam 2.5.224-225)
See Humility and Prema
2014
I consistently think of myself as better than I am. The truth is painful. The devotee is humble because he sees the truth of his own reality. The world consistently teaches you that you need a false sense of self in order to survive and succeed.
Someone: You are much better than you are
That is also true. Depends which way you look at it. I am talking about the outer layer, the false sense of self that we try to justify and display to the world in the interest of an ephemeral idea of survival and success. Without proper humility, that "better" self cannot manifest.
2014
"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it, because what the world needs is more people who have come alive." - Howard Thurman
May the Holy Name give you life!
2009
Learning to talk the talk of the Twitter age. Or in sūtras, the sound bites of the rishis.
The difference between religion and entertainment is that religion requires a sadhana.
What I mean here is that once upon a time religion and entertainment were indistinguishable. People would go to church, etc., just as much for entertainment as edification. And most art was religious and had a religious function.
The difference between religion and entertainment is that religion requires a sadhana.
What I mean here is that once upon a time religion and entertainment were indistinguishable. People would go to church, etc., just as much for entertainment as edification. And most art was religious and had a religious function.
Modern society has succeeded in separating them so that religion, qua entertainment, has become moot.
The myths and stories of religious traditions are distinct in that they require a ritual response related to the Divine.
On another level, of course, all activities are and can be related to God and are therefore, in some respect, sādhanas. Rupa Goswami's rasa theory is about sorting out the two.
Previous students of kāvya recognized that one needs to be in the sattva-guṇa. No question that they thought it was a sādhana and that there was a difference in the experience of rasa according to saṁskāra. And they recognized that it was akin to spiritual experience also- brahma-sahodara. These parallels are very important in our sampradāya. That is why I brought it up.
Comments
ऊभा मारूं बैठा मारूं। मारूं जागत सूता।
तीनि लोक भग जाल पसार्या। कहा जाइगौ पूता॥९९॥
ūbhā mārū͂ baiṭhā mārū͂। mārū͂ jāgata sūtā।
tīni loka bhaga jāla pasāryā। kahā jāigau pūtā॥99॥
99. Standing, I die; sitting, I die, I die while awake or asleep. The web of illusion of the three worlds is spread, where shall you go, my child?
ऊभा खण्डऊ बैठा खण्डऊ। खण्डऊ जागत सूता।
तिहूँ लोक ताँई रहूँ निरंतरि। तौ गोरख अवधूता ॥१००॥
ūbhā khaṇḍãu baiṭhā khaṇḍãu। khaṇḍãu jāgata sūtā।
tihū͂ loka tãi rahū͂ nirantari। tau gorakha avadhūtā ॥100॥
100. Standing, I am detached, sitting, I am detached; I am detached while awake and asleep. In all the three worlds, I remain unceasingly detached from the web of illusion, thus, Gorakhnāth, the ascetic, remains free.
Gorakh Bani
The utmost humility (dainyam) arises from the ripening (paripākena) of intense love (premṇaḥ); just as in the case of the Gokula women (gokula-nārīṇām) due to separation from Krishna (kṛṣṇa-viyogataḥ). ||224||
When humility is ripened (paripākena dainyasya), love flows continuously (premājasraṁ vitanyate). In this way, the cause (kārya) and effect (kāraṇa) of each other (parasparaṁ) can be observed (tekṣyate) between them (tayor). ||225||
The essence (svarūpaṁ) of love (premṇaḥ), which is known (jānanti) to those who understand (tad-vidaḥ), is like a brother (bhrātaḥ)1. From this, the outward signs (bāhyaṁ lakṣaṇam) such as trembling (kampādi) are born (jātaṁ) due to the heart's melting (cittārdratā). ||226||
1. The comparison of love to a brother (bhrātaḥ) signifies the strength, closeness, and emotional depth present in such a relationship. A brotherly bond often represents unwavering support, trust, loyalty, and care that goes beyond superficial attachments. This comparison suggests that genuine love shares these qualities, transcending romantic or sexual attraction. It also highlights the spiritual or transcendent aspects of love, which are integral to its true nature. In this context, love becomes more than just an emotion; it is an enduring bond that binds individuals together on a deeper, more meaningful level.